A Medium-access Approach to Wireless Technologies for Reliable Communication in Aircraft

Ultra-reliable wireless for safety applications as part of the coming 5G and industrial automation technologies can become the ultimate communication solution for aircraft. Digital control systems brought the first communication systems in aircraft, in which the medium was shared and different messages are interpreted at different applications. This approach increased the functionality of a normal aircraft from the 1980s, one example being the A310. This chapter describes important aspects of current technologies and provides a road map for future research on the reliability for wireless communications. It introduces the reliability assessment framework is with the fault-tree analysis to provide a starting ground for the safety criteria. The chapter discusses the performance metrics of wireless technologies. It presents some candidate wireless technologies, and evaluates the candidates wireless technologies against the performance metrics with respect to the reliability framework.